Mike Klis

Senate to consider nominee for U.S. District Court in Denver

Federal Public Defender Raymond Moore will take a step in what could be a painfully slow slog to the U.S. District Court bench when the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee meets Wednesday.

President Barack Obama, who Nov. 14 nominated Moore to replace Judge Wiley Daniel on the federal court,
resubmitted the nomination Jan. 3. Daniel took senior judge status Jan. 1 and, as a result, handles fewer cases than the remaining six judges on the Denver bench.

Partisan wrangling over judgeships, as well as the length of time between a vacancy and presidential nomination, has slowed the appointment process for federal district judges — once considered routine and dispatched quickly — to a snail's pace.

Democratic Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet recommended Moore, who has served as a public defender and a prosecutor.

The fact that the committee has agreed to hear Moore's nomination in the first group of confirmation hearings "suggests that the majority has found no reason to delay his nomination process," Udall said, "but I can't take anything for granted."

The Senate took an average of 93 days to confirm President Bill Clinton's nominees for district judge. President George W. Bush's appointments lingered an average of 155 days from nomination to confirmation, according to Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow with the Brookings Institution. Under Obama, the Senate has extended the process for an average of 223 days.

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The delay in the Senate is primarily the result of partisanship, Wheeler said.

"I think a lot of it is opposition," Wheeler said. "Senators can use the rules to slow things down, and I think they do."

Presidents also slow the process. Obama has on average waited 387 days to submit a nomination from the time a vacancy arises — longer than Clinton or Bush.

Obama nominated William Martinez, a lawyer in private practice, on Feb. 24, 2010, to fill the seat that Judge Edward Nottingham left open in 2008 when he resigned in the midst of an investigation of misconduct.

Martinez had been a member of an attorney advisory panel that provided input on cases that the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union under consideration by the organization. Republicans opposed the nomination.

The Senate confirmed him 58-37 on Dec. 21, 2010, after a bruising battle. Two Republicans joined Democrats in supporting him.

For Martinez, the delay was painful.

"My private practice suffered a significant hit" because lawyers who would normally refer clients to him didn't know when — or if — the nomination would go through.

"I kept it going, but being in a small firm made it very difficult," Martinez said.

Moore's background shouldn't hurt his chances, said former state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis,
who co-chairs an advisory panel that recommends federal judicial candidates to Udall and Bennet.

"He has been in private corporate practice, and on the prosecution as well as defense side," Kourlis said in an e-mail. "I would not expect that his public defender experience would prove to be serious impediment to confirmation because of that experiential balance."

Delays put stress on the court system, said advisory committee member Diane King, a partner in King & Greisen.

Delays also undermine public trust in the judiciary, Kourlis said.

"Justice delayed is justice denied — for businesses, individual litigants and even governmental entities," she said.

When all seven district judgeships are filled, the court is able to keep up its caseload, with some delays, Chief District Judge Marcia Krieger said.

But judges are overburdened, even with Daniel and three other senior judges taking up some of the slack.

"Senior judges have a lighter schedule, but all of them carry a significant workload," she said.

In fact, the benchmark for the number of cases handled by the judges nationally is 430 per judge, Krieger said. Judges in the District of Colorado handle 669 per judge. Both numbers are weighted averages that take into account the complexity of each case.

No matter how quickly the Senate approves Moore, the court will still be struggling to keep pace, Martinez said.

Denver is the eighth busiest of the nation's 92 federal district courts. The Judicial Conference of the United States, which frames policy guidelines for administration of federal courts, has responded to the overload by recommending that Congress add two district judgeships.

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